Reuters reported that Credit Suisse downgraded DP World to neutral from outperform as it sees trade growth slowing down for the port operator in the H2.

The brokerage said that some weakness in global trade seems unavoidable according to the recent leading indicators.

Credit Suisse said that DP World's terminals are well positioned but about 50% of the volumes in its main hub of Jebel Ali in the emirate of Dubai are made of volatile transshipment business which has a more sensitive pricing.

The brokerage said that however, DP World is better prepared to face a market downturn now compared with 2009 as it has a more diversified portfolio and higher margins which are likely to increase further by year end.

The company, which is one of the more profitable assets of debt laden Dubai World, recently posted a four-fold rise in its H1 profit on the sale of its Australian operations.

(Sourced from Reuters)